Many people worry about credit card security, especially online.We’re amongst them.When we set up Tozy Tea LLC, we wanted to take every precaution possible to ensure our customers’ credit card security.

We’ll start with the basics.

(1) Tozy Tea LLC does not store any credit card data.

(2) All our online transactions go through a secure payment system from Americommerce.

(3) Our transactions with a card present go through a secure card reader from Square.

(4) We do not have a point of sale device.

When someone uses a credit card on our site, it is encrypted and secured, even from us. We as the merchants cannot see your credit card number.

Here are some features on our site that demonstrate our commitment to your security. It’s also handy to know when you shop at other sites as well.

The first thing to look for on a secure site are the letters “https,” rather than “http” in the address bar. The “s” means that the site is secured with a system called SSL. When you checkout, you’ll see the “https” on our site.

Another thing to check about SSL is whether a certificate is present. In most browsers, when you are on an https site there will be a little padlock somewhere in the upper right. For our site on Safari, it looks like this:

If you press the little lock, you should get a certificate. On our site, the SSL certificate looks like this:

The SSL certificate for our site is for Americommerce because a customer’s credit card information goes through their secured system, not ours. Americommerce provides shopping cart and website hosting services to hundreds of merchants like us. Their system is trusted by thousands of people every day. In fact, as stated before, the encryption on the credit card information keeps us from seeing your credit card. In our dashboard, we only see the last four digits, which would allow us to track a transaction to correct a mistake or issue a refund. We can only do that with the customer’s approval.

Our payment gateway is with BankCard Services Worldwide. They have a long history working with Americommerce and small merchants like us. As a processor of credit cards, they must comply with the PCI rules that seek to protect the customers’ data.

In addition to our online payment system, we now have a Square Card Reader allowing us to accept credit cards in person. You may have seen this new device on television. Basically, it’s a little device that plugs into a smartphone that allows it to read a credit card transaction and process it. This is completely separate from the credit card processing for the website, as that transaction goes through a different processor and system. Square Card puts a great deal of effort into their security as well.

Lastly, some people know and trust Paypal for their online transactions. In addition to taking credit cards, we are also a Paypal verified merchant. On the right side of our website you will see the gold certificate. Click that and log into Paypal and it will confirm that we are verified and provide details as to what that means. If you want to use Paypal, just select that option when you check out.

We realize this is long and technical, but we want you to feel secure when you shop with us. We believe we have selected good partners with excellent security. We would not have it otherwise.